13th Anniversary Ale | Stone Brewing

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

The color is a a cloudy dark maroon with a finger or two of foamy brownish head with some nice lacing left on the glass..

The smell is pretty darn malty. There is some slight hops in the back with some dark fruit aroma.

The taste is malty with some biscuit like flavor. There seems to be more dark fruit flavor like raisins and plumbs in the middle with some very light bitterness at the end.

The feel of this beer is medium bodied and is drinkable even more then before. There is quite a difference from a fresh bottle to now two years later. It is still drinkable and goes down easy with a smooth feel.

A - Poured a dark copper color with a tan head that leaves lacing behind

S - Is of piney hops on top of sweet caramel malt at this point in time

T - Like the nose bitter citrus and piney hops on strong caramel malt

M - This beer has a medium body with medium carbonation to it

O - I'm sure this beer is well past its prime but its still a pretty good beer that I'm enjoying the hops aren't as fresh as they should be but they're still there making this almost barleywine like with the way it is I think this is still worth drinking if you have the chance.

Got a bottle of this in August of 2010, so the brew was not fresh like the bottle says it should be enjoyed. However I wanted to have it and give it a try. The brew poured out as a brownish color with a pretty decent head on it. The smell of the beer is malty and had some nice hops in there also. The taste of the brew was similar to a Barley Wine to me. Sweet, hoppy and dry. The mouthfeel was on the thicker side. Overall not a bad brew, wish I could have had it sooner just to see the difference.

Just came up on a couple bottles of this the other day and am I ever glad I did! Beer pours a dark amber/brownish color with a nice off white head that leaves a generous portion of lace behind. Smell is heavy on roasted malts, dark chocolate and an amaretto scents. Not much hops to speak of in the nose after 2+ years of aging. Flavor is incredible and has taken on kind of a twisted, barleywine like profile. Great roasted malt and dark chocolate up front with a tinge of the 9.5% abv sneaking in there as well, followed by a nice acidic bite on the back end. Couple that flavor with a nice, crisp mouthfeel and great carbonation level and you have yourself one great beer.

I had this beer many times when it first came out and I always thought the hop profile was nice but overpowered many of the underlying characteristics. Now after a bit of aging this beer is truly stellar, do not hesitate to get it if you have the chance.

Dark auburn and near brown with ruby and red highlights near the edges. Khaki head and lots of lacing left on the glass. Very pretty.

The piney and pungent hops I remember this beer having when fresh have certainly faded, leaving lots of sweet toffee and caramel and a sweet and powerful tang from the yeast.

Little to no hop punch is left, leaving a dark, sticky caramel, yet delicious ale, letting the yeast and roast really shine far more than they did in the fresh version. Obviously, this will never happen with a beer only brewed once, but I'd love to drink this one next to a fresh bottle. If memory serves me correct, they seem to be vastly different beers two years apart from one another.

Medium to thick mouthfeel, though a touch still and heavy.

I enjoyed this beer I think more than the sum of its parts would indicate. Though the hops had certainly faded, this was actually one of my favorites of the Stone Anniversary Celebration.

S: Smells strong like almonds and some hazelnut with some light hoppiness and, strange enough, garlic. It sounds disgusting, I know, but it’s not. The aroma is really inviting, if a garlic scent can do that without being in an Italian dish.

T/M: You can immediately taste chocolate in the back of your throat, light traces of hops and nuttiness throughout. Biscuity malts and marshmallow round out the finish. It’s very rich and very good.

I know this wasn’t their intention, but this beer must have gotten better with age. Either that, or I may have peed my pants in ecstasy if I tried it in 2009. Old beer won’t make you sick will it? I hope I don’t get collera or lupus or something. Eh, I don’t care, it’s worth it.

Pours a deep amber with three fingers of head, leaving nice lacing behind.

Smell is mostly grapefruit rind and rind, followed by some caramel malt and some quite apparent alcohol.

Still a decent hop punch in the taste, mostly grapefruit and pine. Balanced with caramel malt, and a faint taste of bubblegum. Quite bitter on the aftertaste, and the alcohol makes no attempt to hide itself.

Medium, slightly oily mouthfeel.

Overall this is bitter with some obvious alcohol, but still enjoyable even if it was past it's prime.

Apparently I was supposed to drink this fresh, but whatever, I just bought this a couple days ago. Pours a ruby-brown colour with huge off-white head. Lots of lacing, great head retention. This smells incredibly sweet, like brown sugar, vanilla and burnt sugar. Flavour is really sweet as well, slight bitterness too. Aftertaste leaves the burnt sugar flavour (in a good way). Smooth mouthfeel. This is really good even in 2011, so I wish I had it when it was fresh.

22oz bomber poured into Nonic Pint Glass
Pours a dark ruby, dark red color with patchy lacing on the glass
Smells of piney and citrus hops up front, sweet, bready caramel malt, some alcohol but not bad
Taste of citrus hops up front with that bitter bite that I love, overcomes a real bready malty syrupy sweet and then finishes with the hop bitterness in the back. Maybe not as balanced as i usually like..maltiness kind of overpowering
Mouthfeel was a medium feel with real sticky taste left, medium carbonation, had a boozy heat
Overall, a pretty good beer by Stone, but I wish I would have had it when it was fresher. I think the hops mellowed out a little bit and I think this beer would have been better fresher,but thats my fault letting it chill for a while.

Picked this one up about six months ago at Buckeye Beer Engine for $8 iirc. It was already a year old at that point. I really liked this one when it was fresh in summer 2009, so I figured I'd pick a couple more up and see how it ages.

Appearance (4.5): Very dark, reddish brown with dark orange around the edges. A pretty healthy cream colored head with tight bubbles which sticks around and leaves a thick ring and a thin covering layer.

Aroma (4): Very strong, syrupy caramel from the crystal malts and slightly sweet. A touch of pine and dark citrus hops are well integrated.

Taste (4): Immediately the bitterness, piney hops and light, bready caramel flavors hit the tongue. The middle is much more of the syrupy caramel and pretty sweet and viscuous. The finish is more hoppy and not as malt forward but still a bit sweet. The bitterness lingers along with the thick sweetness of the crystal malts.

Mouthfeel (3): Thick and coating from the residual sugars. Almost overly so. I remember this being much more balanced when it was fresh so it's hard to dock it too much.

Drinkability (3.5): This isn't quite a sipper but the sweetness knocks down the drinkability. The alcohol is pretty well masked, but the syrupy caramel backbone makes it less palatable. I thought this one was better when it was fresh as it was very close to a DIPA. Not it's more of a barleywine, and a much different beast. Still not bad at all though and it's not coming back either.

I had this beer at Gingerman's in Ft. Worth, TX the other weekend (they charge way too much for their beer) and enjoyed it a lot.

Watching the frothy creme-colored head form lets me know I'm already going to enjoy it. The color is a sort of dark cherry/ruby color.

It smells like hops ought to smell: bitter, floral, and citrusy. I like the pine smell/taste too. It seems like every pale ale I drink that smells/tastes of pine I really like. I also get some apricot in there too.

Up front the beer tastes very hoppy. It's bitter but not too much, with the citrus/apricot taste balancing out the bitterness along with some good malty sweetness that smooths out the palette. The pine flavor comes towards the end along with a lingering sweetness and the last American-satisfying lingering bitterness of the hops. I like the 9.5% alcohol too. It make my tummy warm and me happy!

To me this beer is like a darker pale ale but just enough to make it like an evil pale ale brother. I don't think that makes any sense... It's good! DRINK IT!!! It's my favorite Stone right now.

Pours a dark brown/ruby red. Nice thick brownish tan head. This one was a little old but it tasted great.

The nose is malty. Smells like molasses or black treacle. Also has a nice spicy hop aroma as well. You can also detect the alcohol, but it isn't harsh or unpleasant.

Nice body to it. Sticky on the mouth. I get citrus from some hops and a slight fruitiness to it. This beer has a nice bitter bight. The bitterness pretty much dominates this I think. Nice gentle warming from the alcohol.

The bitterness is a little too much for me. This almost reminds me of an imperial ipa or something. This is a definite sipper for me otherwise the bitterness makes it a chore.

This may be a little outdated, as it says to enjoy before the end of '09, and it now be '11. Oh well, it should be fine. Pours dark reddish amber, nice off white head and great lacing sticks to the sides of the chalice. Delicious looking brew we have here.

Smells of dark malts and toffee hints flood the nose. A bit of coffee roast, which seems odd as this is no stout. Pleasing, to say the least.

Taste is strange, still pretty bitter, with a subtle alcohol bite. Malty and has a slight orange peel type taste to it. Strange.

poured from a bottle into my arrogant bastard pint glass, says "do not cellar," I chose to not take their advice. The body is a thick deep brown, cloudy with a light tan/yellowish head topping it. Dissipation is not evident, else extremely slow.

The smell emanating from this is very alcohol intensive, spicey hops shine through but all in all the esters dominate. A light brown sugar from the malt comes out to play also.

The flavors do not lend themselves to the estery scent but are very up front. The hop spices give me a slight cinnamon, bitter clove and nutmeg as well a a pine and spruce type tree flavor. The malt is there as a backbone not really imparting too much flavor, most fermented out into the alcohol content which is substantial. Interesting flavors to be sure and I respect the hell out of them but it doesn't strike my palate as being particularly amazing.

The mouthfeel is solid, dense and malty with little carbonation to lighten it at all.

Sipping beer this one is, so thick you can't really do much else unless you like chugging milkshakes ha

Served from tap into a flared pilsner. Poured a deep red-orange with a half finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, bitter hops, and caramel. The flavor was of sweet malt, caramel, and bitter hops. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a pretty nice brew. Still had a fairly big hoppy character on this one after sitting in the keg for awhile. Went down very nicely and had a nice aroma as well. An absolute must try if you have not.

It says drink in 2009, im drinking it in the last few days of 2010... Im sure at 9.5 abv, nothing will be growing in it... and secondly im sure ive had a crap-macro that has been shelved longer than this, and of much less quality. So i made the executive decision to drink it.

a: pours a muddy dark mahogany, its thick and silk like, with a beech colored head. No light passes through this brew.

s: strong coffee, deep barley and heavy malt, all at once, all of a sudden.

t &m: This brew has a light carbonation but a heavy mouthfeel. You really dont notice the alcohol. It has a smooth taste of maybe pumpernickle or rye, with a strong hit of crystal malt, and dark chocolate. Also tastes like plum and spice.

A - Pours a murky dark brown with a half inch of head. Surprising since its well over a year old.

S - Really cool! From the bottle neck first whiff upon cracking is pure piney hops but in the glass I can smell way more Malts, bready and yeasty but still with a very strong hop base covering the ABV

T - Wow I would love to have this fresh! Hops may be aged but still very strong. Tastes as most have stated now as a barley wine but as it warms more hops push through making this more drinkable. The ABV is warming at 9.5 which I love in an old ale and I also love the fact that its not a hot mess so aging hasn't ruined this beer.

M - Mostly heavy to medium. As it warms it gets more drinkable.

D - Well damn it's pretty much gone isn't it? And stone made sure to put a warning to drink it by now so most bottles must be gone. IDK it was just slightly below how much I love my Hibernation ale from GD. Loved it.

S - Aroma of extremely ripe peach and some nice strong grapefruit. Sweet caramel mixed in with some slight boozy sweetness as well. The hop nose is incredibly strong and complex. Very nice aroma. Strong hop notes and some slight bread in there but mostly strong dank hops with some nice pine as well.

T & M - Starts off slightly sweet with some nice malt and caramel notes. Then the flavor turns into a nice bready and toasty malt. Followed by a nice and strong but at the same time subtle hop character that slowly envelops the palette and dries up the mouth. Yum. The beer is quite similar to a Barleywine as said by others. Im surprised by how bready the malt side of the beer is present. I was scarred to have this beer since it was more than a year old but it has aged well. The boozy heat is still there but not overwhelming and its surprisingly balanced. Nice medium bodied beer with good carbonation and a nice silky touch to it with a dry bitter finish.

D - Im glad I didn't pay attention to the fact that this beer was older than a year. If it were more readily available I'd definitely buy more. Good stuff Stone. As always.

Edit: As the beer warms there are some nice spice qualities that come up with some slight pepper and coriander. Mixed in with slight cinnamon and a nice grassy component.

Despite the warning on the label: bottled June 2009 & Do not cellar. Enjoy in 2009. I did cellar this beer, hence I made this review 17 months later, against the warning of the maker.

A: This beer poured a deep opaque reddish brown with a 3 finger fluffy tan head which lasted most of my 1st glass leaving a minimal lacing on the glass.

S: The nose, despite the year wait to drink was heavy on the hops, both piney and citrus.

T: The taste was slightly sweet upfront, made me think of a Barleywine, then BAM the hops hit and hit hard. This was no Barleywine after all. (Wish I made this review when it was fresh, as I forgot how it had tasted then). The hops bitter taste was all grapefruit rind and a hop heads dream.

M: The mouthfeel was a medium body and syrupy yet not to thick with a nice level of carbonation.

D: The drinkability was good but not something I would want to have another right away. It is more of a sipping beer and one you would not want to gulp down.